After UN award, Bihar woman gets Florence Nightingale award

After being honoured with the United Nations Foundation award, a Bihar health official has now been selected for the National Florence Nightingale Award 2014 for her extraordinary work to eradicate polio, officials here said Sunday.

"I am happy the president will honour me for my work in polio immunization campaign," Martha Dodray, a tribal native of Palamu district of neighbouring Jharkhand, said.

Dodray, in her mid-40s, is a midwife posted at Kusheshwarsthan primary health centre in the state's Darbhanga district.

Recalling her struggle, she said she walked several kilometres each day to reach remote and inaccessible villages to administer polio vaccine to hundreds of children, mostly belonging to the poorest of the poor.

The award carries Rs.50,000 and a merit certificate and is given on the occasion of International Nursing Day as a mark of recognition of the meritorious service rendered by nurses and nursing professionals in the country.

The day is observed in the memory of English social reformer Florence Nightingale, who is considered founder of modern nursing.

Last November, Dodray was honoured at the Global Leadership Awards Dinner of 2013 hosted by the UN Foundation.

Apart from Dodray, Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan got the award for championing the cause of girls' education in her country.

The National Florence Nightingale Award 2014 will be presented by President Pranab Mukherjee in a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi May 12.